Detecting the location of a pleural air leak is a difficult task. Current methods include high resolution cat scans, MRIs, and bronchoscopy for direct visualization of proximal airway leaks and bronchopleural fistulas. These methods offer varying levels of reliability and satisfaction but are not consistently sensitive and accurate, and require the use of costly and time intensive apparatus, and may require that the patient be moved. One of the most definitive means to identify a pleural air leak is through the relatively crude technique of open thoracotomy, in which the chest cavity is opened and filled with saline solution and then, following positive pressure ventilation of the lung, the observation of bubble formation indicates air leakage and directionally points to the area of leakage.
Alternatively, this method may be performed by submerging portions of or the entire lung in saline and observing bubbles as an indicator for a leak.
Often in current surgical practice a surgeon does not perform a leak test at all, for many reasons, including but not limited to time demands, the physical manipulation needed to submerge the lung, the difficulty observing leaks on the posterior lung, and the difficulty in tracking an air bubble to its origin, difficulty in recognizing or marking the location for later treatment, etc.
Thus, among other things, it would be beneficial to provide a visual identifier for an air leak pathway or pathways.